Video place-shifting devices, including the Slingbox® by Sling Media Inc., allow users to access a video content source, such as a satellite or cable television set-top box, standalone digital video recorder (DVR), or digital video disc (DVD) player, from a remote location. For example, a user on a business trip far from home may use a desktop or laptop computer, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other communication device to communicate with a place-shifting device attached to a television set-top box located in the user's home by way of the Internet, cellular network, or other communication network. Through this communication, the user may control the set-top box to perform a variety of functions, including setting recording timers for an internal DVR, viewing audio/video programming being received live at the set-top box, and viewing programs previously recorded on the set-top box DVR. To view this programming, the set-top box transfers the data over the same communication network to the communication device, which presents the programming to the user by way of an output display, such as a computer screen.
To allow the user to control the set-top box, the place-shifting device typically communicates with the set-top box by way of the infrared remote control interface of the set-top box. Thus, the place-shifting device is designed to receive commands representing remote control device commands from the user by way of the communication network, and to transmit those commands by way of infrared signals to the set-top box. Thus, the user is employing the communication device as a sort of remote control emulation device to control the set-top box remotely without being in the same room as the set-top box.
To facilitate this emulation, the communication device may execute software that essentially mimics a remote control device of the set-top box from the user's perspective. For example, the video display of the communication device may present a graphical representation of a remote control designed to control the set-top box, upon which the user may employ a mouse or other user interface mechanism to “press” one or more “buttons” of the displayed remote control device to issue commands by way of the place-shifting device to the set-top box. Other mechanisms by which the user may input remote control commands to the communication device may also be utilized.
In addition to multiple types of video source devices, such as set-top boxes, DVRs, and DVD players, place-shifting devices are often configured to communicate with multiple brands and models of each video source device type. Further, each model is often provided with a specific remote control device that allows the user to access every function provided by that particular source device. Thus, the communication device should generally be capable of providing that same remote control device functionality for each video source device that is compatible with the place-shifting device.